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The Perfect Long Weekend in Providence

It's easy to fill a few days with vintage shopping, approachable art galleries and innovative food—that's affordable, too

By

Charlotte Druckman

Updated Sept. 26, 2014 6:07 p.m. ET

RHODE ISLAND'S top town is proof that bigger doesn't always mean better—or more interesting. Providence may have fewer than 200,000 residents, but its talent pool runs deep, in part because it's home to a pre-eminent art and design school, an Ivy League university and a top culinary program. The city's robust Italian- and Portuguese-American communities give the New England city a charisma that its more Puritanical neighbors can't claim. The colorful political scene—ex-mayor and felon Buddy Cianci is currently running for another (civic) term—means there's always something to talk about. And Providence's relative affordability...